MSL 
Laine Hruska
Laine Hruska
When Opportunity Knocked, He Stepped Into the Crease
Position: Goaltender
Hometown: Warman, Saskatchewan
MSL Team: Cobourg Kodiaks
NLL Team: Ottawa Black Bears
Born: May 22, 2001
Sometimes You Find Your Position by Accident
Not every goaltender grows up dreaming about standing in front of lacrosse balls.
Laine Hruska certainly didn't.
Growing up in Saskatchewan, Hruska played hockey and baseball before discovering lacrosse. Even when he first picked up a stick, he wasn't a goalie.
Then his team's goaltender quit.
Someone had to go in.
Hruska volunteered.
One game was apparently enough.
His coach told Hruska's father that as long as he was coaching the team, Laine wouldn't be coming back out of the crease.
It's funny how careers begin.
A young player volunteers to help his team.
Years later, he's a first-round NLL draft pick playing professional lacrosse and tending goal in Major Series Lacrosse.
Saskatchewan Roots
Hruska was born in Saskatchewan and grew up in Warman, just outside Saskatoon.
That's significant because his development didn't follow the traditional Ontario or British Columbia route travelled by so many elite Canadian box lacrosse players.
He developed his game in Saskatchewan.
And he became good enough that people outside the province started paying attention.
Hruska joined the Saskatchewan SWAT in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League and quickly established himself as one of the top young goaltenders in Western Canada.
Saskatchewan SWAT
Hruska's two Junior A seasons with the SWAT provided an early indication of what was coming.
As a rookie in 2018, he posted an 8.6 goals-against average and .833 save percentage in 480 regular-season minutes.
He was named:
2018 RMLL Junior A Rookie of the Year
2018 RMLL Junior A Second Team All-Star
Then he got even better.
In 2019, Hruska finished with a 7.3 goals-against average and .814 save percentage during the regular season. In the playoffs, his save percentage climbed to .838.
He received the Darcy Stinson Award as RMLL Junior A Goaltender of the Year and was named a First Team All-Star.
Two seasons.
Rookie of the Year.
Goaltender of the Year.
The accidental goalie was becoming a legitimate professional prospect.
Representing Canada
Hruska's development also took him onto the international stage.
He represented Canada at the 2018 and 2019 World Junior Lacrosse Championships, winning gold.
For a young goaltender, those opportunities matter.
You're facing elite shooters from different systems and backgrounds while carrying the pressure that comes with wearing Canada's jersey.
And Hruska was still only a teenager.
The experience would help prepare him for what was coming next.
Heading East
In 2020, Hruska travelled east and joined the Whitby Steelhawks of the Arena Lacrosse League.
It proved to be an important move.
Hruska played 285 minutes and finished with a 5-1 record and league-leading 7.57 goals-against average.
The awards followed.
Arena Lacrosse League Rookie of the Year
ALL All-Rookie Team
Second Team All-Star
Once again, Hruska had moved into a new environment and immediately demonstrated that he belonged.
The National Lacrosse League noticed.
First Round
In the 2020 NLL Entry Draft, the Georgia Swarm selected Hruska 13th overall in the first round.
A first-round selection is significant for any player.
For a goaltender, it says something more.
Teams generally don't spend premium draft capital on goalies unless they believe there's substantial potential there.
Hruska had gone from volunteering to replace a youth goalie to becoming one of the most highly regarded young goaltenders in Canada.
Hruska had gone from volunteering to replace a youth goalie to becoming one of the most highly regarded young goaltenders in Canada.
But being drafted and becoming an NLL goaltender are two different things.
There was still work ahead.
Coming Home to Saskatchewan
Hruska eventually joined the Saskatchewan Rush.
And when his NLL opportunity finally arrived during the 2022-23 season, he took advantage of it.
Hruska appeared in four games, playing just over 123 minutes and posting:
2 wins
0 losses
71 saves
.755 save percentage
11.13 goals-against average
For a kid from Warman who developed with the Saskatchewan SWAT, there had to be something special about making his professional breakthrough wearing a Saskatchewan Rush jersey.
He had grown up there.
Developed there.
And now he was playing professional lacrosse there.
Cobourg Kodiaks
During the summer, Hruska has found another home with the Cobourg Kodiaks.
His 2023 season demonstrated what he could provide.
While playing for Cobourg that summer, Hruska posted an 8.68 goals-against average and .850 save percentage.
And we've continued seeing what he's capable of.
The Kodiaks have plenty of offensive firepower with players such as Alex Marinier, Jason Knox, Brock Haley and Aaron Woods.
But eventually every offense has a quiet stretch.
That's when you need your goalie.
A 45-Save Statement
One performance from the 2026 season stands out to me.
Cobourg was facing the Oakville Rock.
Oakville generated 51 shots - Hruska stopped 45 of them.
Cobourg won 10-6.
That's the kind of performance that can completely change a game.
The offense did its job.
The defense battled.
But when Oakville generated opportunities, Hruska was there.
Forty-five saves.
Six goals allowed.
Against a quality Major Series Lacrosse offense.
That's goaltending.
The Goaltender's Journey
Hruska's career also illustrates something that's particularly true about his position.
Goalies develop differently.
A forward can sometimes arrive at 20 or 21 years old and immediately become an offensive star.
Goaltenders often need time.
They need repetitions.
They need to learn shooters.
They need to learn how to deal with the mental side of allowing a goal and preparing for the next shot.
Hruska is only 25 years old.
For a goaltender, that's still young.
Yet he's already experienced Junior A lacrosse, international competition, the Arena Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse and the NLL.
There's plenty of runway left.
By the Numbers
Hometown: Warman, Saskatchewan
Position: Goaltender
Junior: Saskatchewan SWAT
2018: RMLL Junior A Rookie of the Year
2019: Darcy Stinson Award — RMLL Junior A Goaltender of the Year
International: Canada — World Junior Lacrosse Championships
2018 & 2019: Gold Medal
ALL: Whitby Steelhawks
2020: ALL Rookie of the Year
2020: ALL All-Rookie Team / Second Team All-Star
NLL Draft: 13th Overall, 2020 — Georgia Swarm
NLL: Saskatchewan Rush / Ottawa Black Bears
MSL Team: Cobourg Kodiaks
Gary Groob's Take
There's something I really enjoy about Laine Hruska's story.
He wasn't supposed to be a goalie.
The goalie quit.
Laine volunteered.
Sometimes that's all it takes for an entire life in sports to change direction.
But volunteering to go into the crease as a kid and becoming a first-round National Lacrosse League draft pick are two very different things.
Everything in between had to be earned.
And when I watch Laine with Cobourg, I see a goaltender who can give his team exactly what it needs—a chance.
That's the job.
You don't have to stop every shot.
You have to make the saves your team needs, make a few they probably don't expect you to make, and give the guys in front of you enough time to figure things out at the other end.
I also think his Saskatchewan background is important.
So many of the players we feature in this series come through the traditional lacrosse hotbeds in Ontario and British Columbia.
Laine's journey started in Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan SWAT.
Rookie of the Year.
Goaltender of the Year.
World Junior gold.
Then he comes east, wins Arena Lacrosse League Rookie of the Year and becomes a first-round NLL draft pick.
That's quite a climb.
And he's still only 25.
For me, that's the most intriguing part.
We aren't looking back at the completed career of Laine Hruska.
We're watching a goaltender accumulate the experience that could shape the best years of his career.
And to think it all started because one day somebody needed a goalie.
Laine Hruska raised his hand.
He's been in the crease ever since.
That's why Laine Hruska belongs among the Stars of MSL.
— Gary Groob